Putting Today's Shooting at Virginia Tech into Perspective
By now most of the world has heard about the mass shooting that occurred this morning at Virginia Tech. At this hour, officials have confirmed thirty-one dead and twenty-nine wounded. As the world struggles to process the horrors that occurred today on this well-known college campus, I would like to take a few moments, while the news images and death tolls are still fresh on all of our minds, to share my own perspective on this type of tragedy. I feel relatively certain in saying that when all the facts are in, we will learn that all of the gunman's victims died unarmed.
Most states, including Virginia, now offer law abiding citizens the right to obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun. Unfortunately, most states, including Virginia, also have laws that prevent even holders of concealed handgun licenses from being in possession of a firearm inside the buildings of a college campus. These "gun free zones" are designed to prevent this sort of tragedy; however, they did nothing to protect the thirty-one people who died today.
To quote Suzanna Gratia Hupp, the woman who secured the passing of the Texas concealed handgun licensing act by testifying before the Texas state legislature that her parents would not have died in the October 16, 1991, massacre at a Luby’s restaurant in Killeen, TX, had she been allowed by state law to carry a concealed handgun, "We have created a shopping list for madmen. If guns are the problem, why don't we see things occurring at skeet and trap shoots, at gun shows; at NRA conventions? We only see it where guns aren't allowed. The sign of a gun with a slash through it is like a neon sign for gunmen--'We're unarmed. Come kill us.'"
As I listen to newscasters ask why people were not screened for weapons when entering the campus buildings at Virginia Tech, I'm forced to visualize our nation transformed into a giant airport terminal. I don't know anyone who wants to live in a world where students have to remove their shoes, take off their belts, and open their laptops before walking into a classroom. Such security is neither practical nor plausible. We must all learn to accept that life is uncertain and that no amount of legislation or security checkpoints will ever make any of us one hundred percent "safe."
Today's shooting surpasses the October 16, 1991, shooting at the Luby's restaurant in Killeen, TX--The shooting that catapulted Suzanna Gratia Hupp into the national spotlight--as the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The first such mass shooting in U.S. history occurred on August 1, 1966, on the campus of the University of Texas, where, for ninety-six minutes, Charles Whitman fired upon students, passersby, and police, from the now infamous U.T. tower, killing fifteen people and wounding thirty-one others. Whitman did relatively little damage after the first twenty minutes of that ninety-six minute standoff, thanks in large part to a countless number of college students who grabbed hunting rifles from their dorm rooms and fired upon Whitman, without cease, forcing him to keep his head down, until he was finally shot by a police officer who climbed to the top of the tower. Today, a student at the University of Texas who keeps a firearm in his or her dorm room is guilty of a felony.
I apologize if it seems that I’m making this statement "too soon" after the events that transpired today or if it seems that my comments are in some other way in poor taste, but when this type of event occurs, a healthy, balanced perspective must be achieved early, before knee-jerk reactions and emotional backlashes have a chance to take hold.
Most states, including Virginia, now offer law abiding citizens the right to obtain a license to carry a concealed handgun. Unfortunately, most states, including Virginia, also have laws that prevent even holders of concealed handgun licenses from being in possession of a firearm inside the buildings of a college campus. These "gun free zones" are designed to prevent this sort of tragedy; however, they did nothing to protect the thirty-one people who died today.
To quote Suzanna Gratia Hupp, the woman who secured the passing of the Texas concealed handgun licensing act by testifying before the Texas state legislature that her parents would not have died in the October 16, 1991, massacre at a Luby’s restaurant in Killeen, TX, had she been allowed by state law to carry a concealed handgun, "We have created a shopping list for madmen. If guns are the problem, why don't we see things occurring at skeet and trap shoots, at gun shows; at NRA conventions? We only see it where guns aren't allowed. The sign of a gun with a slash through it is like a neon sign for gunmen--'We're unarmed. Come kill us.'"
As I listen to newscasters ask why people were not screened for weapons when entering the campus buildings at Virginia Tech, I'm forced to visualize our nation transformed into a giant airport terminal. I don't know anyone who wants to live in a world where students have to remove their shoes, take off their belts, and open their laptops before walking into a classroom. Such security is neither practical nor plausible. We must all learn to accept that life is uncertain and that no amount of legislation or security checkpoints will ever make any of us one hundred percent "safe."
Today's shooting surpasses the October 16, 1991, shooting at the Luby's restaurant in Killeen, TX--The shooting that catapulted Suzanna Gratia Hupp into the national spotlight--as the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. The first such mass shooting in U.S. history occurred on August 1, 1966, on the campus of the University of Texas, where, for ninety-six minutes, Charles Whitman fired upon students, passersby, and police, from the now infamous U.T. tower, killing fifteen people and wounding thirty-one others. Whitman did relatively little damage after the first twenty minutes of that ninety-six minute standoff, thanks in large part to a countless number of college students who grabbed hunting rifles from their dorm rooms and fired upon Whitman, without cease, forcing him to keep his head down, until he was finally shot by a police officer who climbed to the top of the tower. Today, a student at the University of Texas who keeps a firearm in his or her dorm room is guilty of a felony.
I apologize if it seems that I’m making this statement "too soon" after the events that transpired today or if it seems that my comments are in some other way in poor taste, but when this type of event occurs, a healthy, balanced perspective must be achieved early, before knee-jerk reactions and emotional backlashes have a chance to take hold.
posted by Douva | 3:38 PM
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